Operation Prince Charming (16 page)

Ali tried to ignore the emotional tug of war between her head and her heart as she zipped her suitcase closed.

After all, she’d been hoping for an opportunity like this for months. She’d be a fool to turn it down.

Images of her aunt trying to figure out that laptop came to mind, and Ali found herself smiling as she remembered her aunt vowing not to touch it.

She was grateful when her cell phone rang. She hoped the caller would get her out of her own head. She glanced down at the small screen and saw Hunter’s name.

“I stopped by the school looking for you, but no one was there.” A delicious shiver shimmied down her back at the sound of his deep voice. “Are you at home?”

“Yes, but—”

“Good,” he interrupted. “We just wrapped up a big case, and all I want to do is see you.”

If it were possible for a woman to simply melt, she’d be a pool of pudding. She wanted to see him too, badly.

Then her gaze fell on her suitcase.

“Hunter, I can’t see you tonight,” she said.

She heard him exhale sharply. “This isn’t about you still thinking I’m hung up on Erica, is it?”

“No, it’s not that. I’m about to drive to the airport,” she said. “My agent called, and the television station in Florida has reinstated their offer. I’m meeting with them tomorrow.”

“Oh,” he said, sounding deflated. “I’m not too far from your place. Can I give you a lift to the airport?”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate it.”

Ali pulled her suitcase off the bed, rolled it into the living room, and placed her tote beside it. She’d packed light, but it wasn’t as though she was headed to a strange place or a hotel. She was going home.

Although she was expecting him, Ali jumped when she heard Hunter knock. She opened the door and he immediately pulled her into a hug.

She rested her head on his wall of a chest, reveling in the feel of his strong arms around her. Hunter dropped a kiss on top of her head.

“Congratulations,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said, reluctantly letting him go. “And congratulations to you too, on your case.”

He glanced over at her suitcase. “Is that all?”

She nodded.

“Wow, I thought you’d have a lot more than that,” he said.

Ali shrugged. “I don’t know how long I’m staying, but I have a closet full of clothes at my condo.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re really just going home, huh?” His voice sounded as though he was trying to infuse it with a cheerfulness he didn’t feel.

“Hunter, I…” she started, but wasn’t quite sure how to finish.

He picked up her suitcase. “We’d better get going. You don’t want to miss your flight.”

She and Hunter filled the short ride from her apartment to the airport with small talk. Hunter talked about his case and his visit with Erica.

“I’m glad you went to see her,” Ali said, feeling genuinely sorry for Erica. “I don’t have to work hard to imagine how quickly her society friends turned their backs on her.”

“She seemed a bit better when I left,” Hunter said.

Ali noted how matter-of-fact he sounded. Maybe he really was over Erica after all.

Hunter parked the car in the hourly lot and walked with her to the terminal. Ali fisted her hand and kept it at her side to keep from reaching out and holding his.

Deep down, she longed to tell him how she felt about him, but what would be the point? She was leaving, after all.

“Don’t you have to check in?” he asked when he saw the kiosk for her airline.

“I printed my boarding pass already. Since I only have a carry-on bag, I can go right to security.”

She saw his Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he swallowed. Ask me to stay, she thought.

Ali looked at the security checkpoint line and back at Hunter. “I guess I’d better go ahead through,” she said.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Ask me to stay.

The thought echoed in her mind as she turned around and walked toward security.

“Ali,” he called out, and her heart slammed against her chest.

Yes!
Ali turned around, fully prepared to leap into his arms.

“I just wanted you to know how proud I am of you,” he said.

“Oh,” she said, trying to hide her disappointment. “Thank you, that means a lot.”

Hunter watched Ali until she walked down the long corridor and out of sight. It took every ounce of willpower he could summon not to go after her.

It had taken even more to let her go in the first place. When she’d kissed him it had been all he could do not to toss her over his shoulder
and take her back to his town house, to his bed, where she belonged.

Slowly, he turned around and headed back to the parking garage. As badly as he’d wanted to stop her, he couldn’t.

Her ex-husband had ruined this opportunity for her once. How could he ask her not to take it and live with himself?

Instead, he’d told her how proud he was of her. It was true. He’d only wished…

Hunter shrugged off the thought. It didn’t matter what he wished now. He slid into the driver’s seat of his car and inhaled the lingering scent of Ali’s citrusy perfume.

He felt a tug deep down in the region of his heart and realized he’d let the woman he loved get away.

Ali awoke with a start as her plane made a bumpy landing at Palm Beach International Airport. She stared out the small window at the night sky as the plane rolled to the terminal.

She was home.

Ali waited for the wave of emotion she would have expected to accompany the thought, but it had yet to make an appearance. She didn’t feel it when she saw the palm trees swaying in the balmy breeze on the airport property or the gecko that darted across her path on her way to the rental car parking lot.

She might be back in south Florida, but she’d
left her heart in Nashville, she realized. The feelings she’d forced back when she’d told Hunter good-bye threatened to surface.

“You’ve got to put him out of your mind. This job is what you’ve been waiting on,” she whispered as she drove south on I-95 toward her Boca Raton condo. She’d be more excited in the morning when she met with Leo and the producers from Channel Four, Ali reasoned.

It was nearly eleven when she reached the front door of her place. She disarmed her security system with her key fob remote before unlocking the door.

Ali flipped on the light, dropped her suitcase in the foyer, and walked around. Except for a layer of dust, the three-bedroom condo was exactly the way she’d left it four months ago.

She opened the sliding glass door to let in some fresh air and took another look at the once-familiar surroundings. The rooms were done in a style her decorator had described as classic luxe.

Now it just seemed crowded and overdone. She took in the Persian rugs, her collection of crystal figurines, and the oversized lithographs hanging on the walls.

Though her tiny apartment in Nashville was less than half the size, it seemed so much more spacious.

Ali thought about Hunter and how he’d expected
her apartment to be infused with pink like her wardrobe. What would he think of this place? she wondered.

Then she began to wonder what he was doing now. Was he stretched out on that big bed of his thinking about her?

Maybe she would just call…

She instantly vetoed the idea. Parting at the airport had been hard enough.

Besides, the only thing she should be concerned about now was getting a good night’s sleep so she’d be at her best tomorrow.

The next morning Ali awoke hours before the sun bathed her condo in light. After tossing and turning half the night, she’d finally gone into her home office and begun preparing for this morning’s meeting. She’d located her detailed notes, which were chock-full of segment and story ideas for the show.

As the time for her to meet everyone over at the station drew near, Ali pulled a soft pink shift dress from her closet with a matching short-sleeve jacket.

Fortunately, she’d left enough coffee beans in the freezer to grind and brew a decent half pot of coffee before jumping in the rental car and driving over to the station.

Leo was pacing in front of the station door when she arrived. “Ali, what happened? I thought you were going to call me last night when you
got in, and when I couldn’t get in touch with you this morning, I was worried you were still in Nashville,” he said.

It had been too late to call when she’d arrived, and she’d been too busy to talk on the phone this morning. “As you can see, I made it just fine,” she said.

“You look great. It’s good to see you again,” Leo said. “This is what we’ve been waiting for. You must be thrilled.”

Thrilled? Not really, Ali thought. And her lack of emotion bothered her. Leo was right; she had been waiting for something like this to happen.

Still, reviewing her old notes this morning had ratcheted up her enthusiasm. Once they started talking about the show, she was sure, she’d feel more excited.

Once everyone was seated in the conference room with coffee and a platter of donuts, the producers began to review the format of the show.

Ali was disappointed to learn both the producer and the director Ali had talked to last time had moved on to other stations. Now their replacements were going over their vision for the midday show.

“We’re going to continue to call it
The Town’s Talking
and it will fill the half-hour slot between local news and the beginning of network programming,” Jeff, the new producer, said.

He appeared to be in his twenties and fresh out of college. His attention was divided between their conversation and the BlackBerry and iPhone in front of him. “The show will continue to have a talk show, news magazine feel. You’ll interview local celebrities and news makers, do stories on events and activities, and host segments on diets, fashion, cooking, and decorating. Our audience is mostly stay-at-home women and seniors, so we want to do topics that appeal to them.”

Leo grinned at Ali. “Sounds like this show is just perfect for Ali,” he said. Though Ali doubted he’d even been listening. If she knew Leo, his ears wouldn’t perk up until they started talking money.

“We think so,” the director agreed. She was so young, it made Ali feel practically elderly. Her red hair was scraped back in a high ponytail, and she wore glittery lip gloss that looked as if she’d gotten it with her last Barbie doll. “Ali’s background in etiquette will give the show the softer, gentile feel we’re aiming for, especially after that horrible business with our last host.”

Ali cleared her throat. “I had some ideas for show segments on personal finance—”

“Oh, definitely,” Jeff interrupted. “I already have a guest lined up to talk about boosting your grocery store savings with coupon clipping and another one to talk about the best cell phone deals.”

Ali nodded. “Those are good ideas, but I was thinking along the lines of recession-proofing your portfolio, avoiding excessive bank fees, and which insurances you really need.”

Jeff shot the director a look. “Ali, those are all worthy topics, but they’re a little heavy for the afternoon.”

“We’d like to increase the recipe segments to two a show,” the director chirped. “Who doesn’t love recipes?”

“I also have some ideas on simple fixes you can do in your home that would save you tons of money. I can demonstrate those myself,” Ali said.

The director looked at her. “How are you with tablescapes, you know, decorating your dining room table with a theme?”

Ali’s other ideas were met with similar condescending reaction.

“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you just send me a memo or something, and we’ll keep those in mind? Your input is very important to us,” Jeff said.

“Ali will certainly do that,” Leo said. “She wants to do everything she can to ensure that the show is a success.”

Leo, Jeff, and the director continued to talk as if she weren’t in the room. And as their voices prattled on in the background, Ali realized why she hadn’t been as excited as she should have been about this job.

That was it—it was just another job.

Other people would have the decisionmaking authority as well as the power to get rid of her anytime.

She wanted more than just a job. She realized she wanted something of her own.

“Excuse me.” Ali interrupted the conversation about her future she’d been all but excluded from. “I appreciate your consideration and your generous offer, but I’m going to have to pass on it.”

“What?” Leo sputtered, jumping to his feet.

“I don’t want the job,” Ali said.

“You can’t be serious,” Leo said.

Jeff looked over at the director. “Get that lady who bakes the cartoon cakes on the line. Offer
her
the job.”

Ali walked out of the studio into the bright south Florida sunshine, and for the first time since she’d arrived she felt excited. She could hardly wait to go home, back to the school, to her aunt, and to Hunter.

Hunter turned down both Pete’s offer of dinner and Bishop’s, who had an extra ticket to a Nashville Sounds baseball game.

He knew he’d be poor company tonight, and it was no use ruining everybody else’s evening. All he wanted to do was get in his car and go home.

You should have asked her to stay.

The thought had echoed through his head ever since he’d said good-bye to Ali last night. How could he have let her go without telling her he loved her?

He already knew the answer. He could never ask her to turn down the opportunity she’d already lost once for him. That would make him no better than her ex-husband.

Hunter knew now, as he had known last night at the airport, he had to love her enough to let her go.

He turned down the street that led to the Spencer School. He rationalized he was only
going that way to get coffee at the nearby shop, not because he already missed her like crazy. The fact that tonight would have been his last lesson wasn’t lost on him.

Just as he signaled to make the right turn into the coffeehouse parking lot, Hunter thought he saw Ali’s red Honda parked in front of the school.

No, it couldn’t be, he thought.

He abruptly braked, causing the driver behind him to honk his horn.

Hunter told himself not to get his hopes up. It could be that her aunt had simply borrowed the car. However, his heart felt as if it were about to leap out of his chest.

He parked his car, jumped out of it, and ran to the door of the school. Closing his eyes briefly, he took a deep breath before pulling the door handle.

Relief mixed with joy flooded him when he saw her standing by the reception desk rifling through her tote. She looked up and smiled brightly. “Hunter,” she said. “I was just about to drive over to your place.”

“Why are you back here so soon? I thought you’d be down in Florida getting ready to launch the television show.”

She shook her head. “I turned it down.”

“What?” Hunter asked incredulously. “I don’t understand. You’d been waiting for that opportunity to open up again. It was your dream job.”

Ali shook her head. “No, I had it all wrong. It was just a job. Somebody else’s job that they can fill on a whim,” she said. “My new dreams are here with this school and with—”

Hunter rounded the reception desk and pulled her into his arms. “With me,” he finished for her.

She nodded. “Yes, with you.”

Hunter raised her chin with his finger and lowered his mouth to her. His kissed her until they both had no choice but to come up for air. He wanted there to be no doubt in her head that she was the woman he wanted.

“So, you never did say why you came by the school,” she said.

“I believe you owe me a dance lesson.”

She smiled. “But first, I think we need to talk about reversing my no-sex policy.”

“How about we head back to the airport and catch the next flight to Las Vegas?” he asked. “Then we can reverse it on our honeymoon.”